The Jinzouningen Mystery
by Moonhawk
Summary: The usual stuff... like the tenkaichi budoukai, except that there's a mysterious new character... please review!!
1. Default Chapter Title

Note: This story takes place a four years after the end of the DBZ manga series. 

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The Jinzouningen Mystery

Chapter 1 – Splitting Aftermath

In the middle of a new project, Bulma sighed wearily. Ever since Trunks had broken up with Marron, he had been moody, either locking himself up in his room or training full-time with Vegita. He hardly ever talked to her any more. Conversely, her husband had been glad when he heard the news. He did not think much of Marron, since she could not fight at all. However, Bulma was very concerned about her son. He was only twenty-two, and Marron was his first steady girlfriend, so he was not likely to forget her easily, even if both their parents were not friends. Frustrated, she dropped whatever she was doing, not caring whether it was broken. She was in no mood to work now.

Deciding to consult Juuhachigou, she stomped to the spacious, well furnished living room and dialled their number on the phone and waited, lying comfortably on the couch, for either the cyborg or her husband to answer. With luck, it would be the Jinzouningen. Kuririn had been _really_ upset when his beloved daughter came home crying her eyes out and probably still had not forgiven Trunks for it. Bulma heard a click, then Juuhachi's nearly emotionless voice saying, "Hello, who is this?"

"Good evening, Juuhachigou, I'm Bulma," she replied, blowing her long fringe up with the breath of her words. "How is Marron?"

"Locked inside her bedroom and crying. She refuses to come out, even for meals. How about Trunks?" the blond android asked.

"The same," Bulma sighed, stretching on the couch, "Except that he is also putting all his effort into training. I have never seen Vegita _so_ pleased."

"Hmmph. At least that makes him easier to live with. Kuririn… I don't know what's gotten into him. He behaves as if everything is my fault because I let their relationship continue."

"I'm so sorry…" Bulma began, feeling guilty that her son had done this.

"Don't be," Juuhachigou interrupted. "It isn't your fault."

There was a short silence. Then, thinking aloud, Bulma said, "I wonder why they broke up. Trunks did not tell me. In fact, he hardly ever speaks to me now."

"Marron did not tell me either. Never mind that now. What are we going to do about them? Just leave them alone and hope that they come to their senses? Or are you going to find Trunks a new girl?"

"Well…" Bulma blushed a little, then replied, "Whatever it is, I guess it will have to wait until after the Budoukai."

"What?" the android asked, surprised. "Don't tell me that Trunks and Vegita are going to take part again?" 

"Yes. That's one reason why they are training so hard. Goku and the others are also participating. It was Mr. Son's idea, of course, he wants to test Ubuu's fighting skill. Are you guys going to join too?"

Juuhachi thought for a while, then answered, "I don't think so, but we will probably come as spectators. I'll call my twin to come too. I'm sure he will be very interested."

"Um… all right, but please tell him not to join, okay? Good-bye."

"Bye." Smirking, Juuhachigou put down the phone. She remembered that the Brief family did not like Juunanagou, especially Vegita. She also understood why they did, given her brother's character. The android lounged on an armchair, idly musing about when her brother had last visited them.

Suddenly, the Jinzouningen wanted to see her twin again. She stood up peremptorily and walked to Marron's bedroom door. With her enhanced hearing, she could pick out her daughter's sobs from the sounds of the sea. The silly girl was still weeping very quietly. Didn't she know that there were many other better things to do than to sit and sob all day long? Juuhachigou shook her head disapprovingly and knocked sharply on the door. Although it was locked, both parents could open it easily with a push. They all knew it too. However, they let Marron have her privacy. The seventeen-year-old girl's sobs quieted hastily when she heard the penetrating knock. She knew who was at the door and that the person would not tolerate such behavior in her only daughter.

Marron hurriedly wiped her tears dry and opened the door, blinking in the bright light outside, which was coming in through the open window. Her own room was dark as the deep blue curtains were drawn. "Kaasan, what is it?" she asked, her normally sweet voice hoarse from prolonged keening. Juuhachi was going to reprimand her daughter, but she was a little stunned to see the sadness in the teen aged girl's eyes and decided to be gentler to her.

"I am going to visit your ojiisan," she said, laying one smooth hand on the girl's shoulder. She noticed that Marron was nearly at her height. The girl was growing up so quickly. Seventeen years. Had it been that long?

"If Kuririn asks you where I am, tell him. Also, go and wash your face. You don't look pretty with your eyes all red like this, Marron-chan. I want my daughter to be pretty, understand?" She planted a kiss on her daughter's wet cheek when Marron coloured and nodded. Then, she flew out the door and into the darkening sky, heading for the young woodcutter's hut.

Kuririn opened his bedroom door and scratched his head, puzzled. Why did Juu-chan leave abruptly like that? "Otousan?" came Marron's voice. The ex-monk turned to see his daughter's appealing, but now sad face peering at him from behind her door.

"What is it, Marron-chan?" he inquired mildly. The girl had just gone through an emotional trauma and he did not want to upset her too much.

"Kaasan wanted me to tell you that she has gone to look up Ojiisan. She did not tell me why, though." 

"Thanks for telling me, Marron-chan." Kuririn said seriously. It wasn't very unusual for the female Jinzouningen to visit her twin, but she normally only went during weekends. He shrugged and returned to his bedroom. That was the problem with marrying Artificial Humans. They were so unpredictable. However, he should have known that when he first asked her to marry him. The ex-monk felt a hint of nostalgia as he relived that moment when he broke his vow of celibacy. He wondered how Juu-kun was getting along. The male android still wasn't married, as far as he knew. Maybe Juu-chan went there to talk to him about it. It was not his business to bother, anyway. Let Juuhachi handle it. She knew her twin better, right?

On his way back to his room, Kuririn passed by Kamesennin's closed door. He knocked once, twice, then stopped because he could hear the old man's loud snores being emitted. Probably the old man had fallen asleep after reading his extensive store of porn magazines. He would probably never stop being hentai, Kuririn thought, shaking his head. He, on the other hand, had quit once he found a beautiful woman who was willing to be his wife. Never mind that she was only about half-human. Momentarily, he wondered if Kamesennin would also quit if he found a wife. Realising the foolishness of his thought, he chuckled to himself. Which woman would ever want to marry a hentai, century-old man?

Reaching his room, Kuririn's hand paused on the way to the door knob. He looked at the sun setting over the sparkling sea, then at his nondescript grey watch. Juuhachi would probably be back in time to make dinner. He yawned and stretched luxuriously. Meanwhile, he could get some more sleep. He seemed to be missing a lot of that lately. 

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Chapter 2 - Preparation

_Biff_. An exceptionally hard blow knocked Trunks into a corner of the gravity room. Vegita regarded at him out of the corner of his eye, irritated. This boy was getting on his nerves. The "boy" in question was slumped in his corner, panting hard. The punch had nearly knocked all the air out of him. The lavender- haired youth saw his father glaring at him and got up, wincing, then proceeded to go through his routine again. Vegita could see that he was almost ready to drop, and yet he persisted in what he was doing. He had been like this for a week now. This was no way for a warrior to act. All this fuss because of a mere girl. The Saiyajin Prince snorted and decided that this had to stop at once. The Budoukai was only a week away. If Trunks continued with what he was doing, he would die of exhaustion before the competition. "Trunks, stop. Go to your room and rest. Now," he ordered, indicating the door.

Trunks wearily looked up at his father. "But, Otousan, I…" He paused. The look on Vegita's face prevented him from going further. Sullenly, he opened the pressurised door and went out into the corridor, slamming the door behind him.

Meanwhile, at the foot of Mount Paozu, at a small hut in a forest clearing, an old hermit monk was training a teen aged girl. The girl looked to be about fourteen years of age and was learning how to make ki blasts. She had jet-black shoulder length hair that was tied up in a ponytail and was dressed in a plain white tee-shirt and a pair of beige-coloured shorts. As the monk watched her carefully, she stood with legs apart, saying, "Ka-me-ha-me- HA!" 

As she uttered these words, she brought her hands down to waist level and to her right. As the last syllable, her hands, which were suddenly filled with a bright blue light were moved forward and the blast of ki completely disintegrated the huge boulder in front of her.

The delight at finally learning the skill was shown in her jade-green eyes and sweet smile of victory. As she turned around to thank her teacher, she caught sight of her red-haired mother standing at the hut's doorway, leaning heavily on the wooden door. The pale, thin woman in her mid-thirties smiled proudly at her daughter's achievement, then her eyes rolled back in her head and she collapsed smoothly on the grassy floor. "Okaasan!" 

Dismayed, the girl ran swiftly to her. 

At the woman's side, the girl saw that her mother was still barely conscious. "Okaasan, you're ill. How could you come out to watch me?" she whispered tearfully, "How am I going to find money to make you well?"

"The Tenkaichi Budoukai," said a deep male voice.

The girl looked at her teacher, surprised. "But… But…," she stammered. 

"I think that you are ready for it. Besides, it is quite a few weeks away and you still have some time to perfect your new skills."

In fact, more than ready. The old man thought to himself. In all his years as a teacher, he had never had such a skilled pupil before. Her speed alone was astonishing. She had even learnt the Kamehameha, Mutenroshi's most powerful skill. He himself only knew the theory part of the skill from his own teacher, Son Gohan. This was the first time he had ever seen someone using the skill. Moreover, this young girl had learnt it completely in a couple of days! And yet, he felt that she had the potential to be much more powerful and skilled in fighting. To his regret, there was nothing else that he could teach her. Maybe she would be able to find a more skilled teacher at the Budoukai. He was quite sure that this capable student of his could emerge champion in it. But then, he couldn't have foreseen the participation of the world's strongest fighters, could he?

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Chapter 3 - Budoukai

"Goku, Goten, take care of yourselves, okay?" came Chi-Chi's voice. "You too, Ubuu," she said, looking down and tousling the dark-skinned fourteen-year-old boy's black hair.

"Vegita, make sure you don't kill anybody," Bulma warned, frowning with her hands on her hips, "or else…" 

The whole group was near the entrance of the Budoukai and those taking part were about to separate from those who were not. Unexpectedly, Son Gohan saw someone close by who was as dear to him as his father.

"Piccolo-san!" he cried out jubilantly. Everyone turned round to look at the alien newcomer with his cape fluttering grandly in the soft breeze. "Are you going to take part?" Gohan eagerly asked.

Slightly embarrassed, the former demon king replied, "No, I just came to watch."

After the participants had moved off, the others went to the seats that Videl's father, Mr. Satan, had reserved for them. Meanwhile, Gohan and Piccolo had continued conversing. 

"What?! A person strong enough to defeat Bra and Pan?" the Saiyajin half-breed nearly shouted, drawing the attention of most of the others.

"But… that is not possible,… unless… Is he a Saiyajin too?" Kuririn asked.

"No, _she_ is not. Also, she may be related to Juuhachigou." Piccolo added seriously.

"_What_?! How…," the ordinarily quiet Jinzouningen exclaimed, "The only relative I have is my twin." It then occurred to her that her brother might have gotten married without telling her. How could he do such a thing? Maybe he had intended to surprise her, to show her that he could live as a normal human too. Hmmph. When he turned up, she would wring a confession out of him. Forcefully. She smiled to herself in anticipation of this. For the time being, she would keep a sharp lookout for this mysterious girl.

Staring out of a taxi's window in wonder, the girl was much amazed by the number of people and the many tall buildings. The driver peered curiously at his young passenger through his cab's rearview mirror. "Are you sure you are going to compete in the Budoukai? You look a little young." the taxi-driver commented, an eye on the road and the other on his passenger via the mirror. The only reply he received was that she needed the money. Shrugging, he continued driving. It was not his concern to know, anyway. After dropping her off at the entrance and collecting his fee, the taxi-driver headed home through the heavy traffic to pick up his family. Almost all of the residents of Satan City were going to attend the Tenkaichi Budoukai. After all, it was not every year it was held in this city.

The girl walked steadily towards the desk for participants to record their names. The plump, bespectacled officer at the desk looked up at her approach and asked for her name in a monotone. He had long ago learnt not to question a person's fighting ability, no matter how young the person was, or seemed. However, this was the third female participant he had recorded so far, in contrast to the hundreds of male participants, and he could afford to show some interest. After all, his was an incredibly palling job and unusual incidents like this helped to relieve the boredom. 

"Kiare." the girl said quietly, arms folded and looking past him.

"Pick a number, then go to the hall over there." the man pointed towards the building as he spoke. Kiare pushed her hand into the box and picked up a white piece of folded card. Unfolding it carefully, she looked at the number. Twenty- eight. That meant that she was in the second group. Her teacher had explained carefully to her about the rules and regulations that he knew because he had once competed in it although he did not get the championship or into the finals.

Strolling along casually inside the huge hall even though she felt the opposite of casual, Kiare caught sight of a large crowd of pugilists in one corner. Ambling by, she saw that they were looking at a notice board where all the numbers were located, with a flow chart to show how the finalists would be chosen. With some difficulty, she managed to catch a glimpse of Group 2 and saw that she only had to defeat four people to get into the finals. That shouldn't be too laborious, she hoped. Now, she ignored the people, noise, everything around her and focused her mind on sensing ki. Most of the competitors did not have much. The most they had was her highest level, which was relatively low. 

Suddenly, she sensed a group of about seven people with an extraordinarily high level of ki. Probably not caring whether it was hidden or not. That was the only explanation for such a phenomenon. They were at one corner of the hall, near the cafeteria.

Kiare hurriedly made her way there, wanting to see who those powerful people were and curious about their appearance. Many people she saw wore their traditional clothes or douji. She herself was dressed in a pale coloured tee-shirt and jeans. Also, there were mainly males. In fact, she did not see any other females around. That made her a little nervous. However, it also made her excited. Imagine how shocked the audience would be if a mere girl won the Budoukai. She chuckled to herself at that thought, then she remembered the strong ki. That is, if she could defeat those people first. If her sense was right, she would be nearly on top of them by now.

A gloved hand appeared unexpectedly in front of her face. Kiare stopped short, missing a collision by inches. Looking up annoyed, she saw a young-looking man who was slightly taller than her and had black, spiky hair. He wore a tight-fitting, grey singlet and trousers with white boots and gloves. He saw her staring at him and folded his muscular arms tightly. Scowling irately, he snarled, "Buzz off, kid."

Kiare had been about to argue that she was _not_ a kid despite her appearance, then noted some movement out of the corner of her eye. Curious, she turned and focused her attention on it. Two cute, young girls were waving at her urgently. Strangely, the taller one had pale blue hair tied up in a braid, but otherwise seemed perfectly normal. Both of them were also dressed informally in tee-shirts and loose-fitting track pants. Leaving the guy with the forbidding demeanour, she walked coolly towards the girls, not noticing that the man was looking at her strangely, as if he recalled seeing her before.

"Wow. I admire you, y'know." started the blue-haired girl, looking up at Kiare in deep respect showing in her blue eyes. "You are one of the few people on this planet who are not afraid of him. My kaasan is another one."

Slightly puzzled, Kiare just shrugged it off. "What's your name? Mine is Bra and hers is Pan." the girl continued affably, pointing to herself and the other girl beside her.

"Are you taking part in the Budoukai too?" asked the girl named Pan, her light blue eyes wide with curiosity. Smiling shyly, Kiare said, "My name is Kiare and yes, I am taking part." This was the first time she was talking to strange girls and she was not quite sure of what to say. Back at her home, they were far removed from society and had few visitors. Hence, she had only limited contact with those of her gender and those of the opposite sex. Fortunately, the two exuberant girls made her welcome and she found it quite easy to talk to them.

After chatting with the youngsters for a while, Kiare found out that Pan was eight while Bra was nine. However, just by talking to them, they seemed much more mature, sort of like herself. She was sixteen years old this year, but looked fourteen. Just then, she noticed a ruggedly handsome young man sauntering towards them. Like the girls, he also possessed a high level of ki. "Hey, Pan, who's that pretty girl you're talking to?" he called out, waving his right hand in friendly greeting.

Kiare blushed at his comment and the two girls were startled by his voice. No one had called her pretty before. Then, Pan whirled around and reproached him sharply, "Ojiisan, don't you have any manners? We are talking here, don't interrupt!"

"If you yourself had any, you would have introduced your new friend to us," was his peeved retort. 

Realising that her uncle was right, it was Pan's turn to redden and she was at a loss of words for a moment. Bra skillfully took over the situation. Grabbing one of Kiare's hands, she pointed at the dour-faced man and declared, "That's my 'tousan, Vegita. Don't worry 'bout him. He is always sulky. We're all used to it, in any case. That guy Pan just talked to is her ojiisan, Son Goten."

Now the girls led Kiare to the rest of the group, consisting of Trunks, Goku and Ubuu, then introduced them to her. All of them seemed to welcome her except Vegita, of course, and Trunks. As a sort of apology, Bra whispered confidentially, but rather loudly to Kiare that her niichan, the good-looking, purple- haired young man, was glum today because he had recently broken up with his girlfriend, Marron. When asked, Bra replied that Marron was Goku's friend's daughter. Trunks, leaning against a wall, glared fiercely at his sister for revealing so much to a stranger while Bra impertinently stuck out her tongue at him. So these people were all related to each other? No wonder they were so powerful and their ki were so similar, she thought. Especially Son Goku and Vegita. Their ki stood out from the rest. But who were these people in the first place? Surely, they could not be ordinary humans, like her, although they all looked were dressed typically, with the exception of the strangely spiky hair of Goku, Vegita and Goten. 

Not wanting to show her almost total ignorance of the outside world by asking the others, Kiare continued meditating over this question until she was discourteously interrupted by a loud proclamation over the intercom. "All participants, please report to your respective groups. The Budoukai is about to commence." The announcer coughed gruffly, then continued, "I repeat, all participants, please proceed to your respective groups to report."

Gradually, the whole party started to split up and move off towards their different arenas, promising to meet each other again during the finals. With their powerful ki, no wonder they could be so confident about their adeptness at fighting, even the two young girls and the young dark-skinned boy. Maybe they had participated in the Budoukai in the past so they knew how the competition was like. Kiare herself was exceptionally apprehensive, although she endeavoured not to show it to the others by behaving informally with them, or tried to do so, at any rate.


	2. Default Chapter Title

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Chapter 4 – First Match

Goten was a little perplexed by the girl named Kiare. She seemed shy and did not have much ki. And yet, she had to be confident in her fighting abilities. Otherwise, she would not have joined the Budoukai. The girls had made his introduction to her exceptionally brief, especially his niece, who was yet angry at him for his humiliation of her. So, he was still very curious about her and wondered how he could get a chance to speak to her alone, without Bra or Pan interfering.

They were all on their separate ways to their groups. Fortunately, all of them were in different groups. Goten did not want to meet either his father, Ubuu or Vegita during the preliminary rounds. Sure, he loved fighting, but not if he knew he would surely lose. The three girls were walking a few paces in front of him, but when he turned, the two young ones had disappeared, leaving Kiare walking by herself. He took the opportunity to quicken his footsteps and catch up with her. She had heard him coming and was not surprised when he kept pace with her. "Hi, Goten," she said softly, not glancing up.

"Hi," was his bashful reply. He really was not eloquent when talking to other girls! "Er… which group are you in?"

"Group two. I am in the sixth match. What about you?" she inquired, finally raising her dark brown eyes to look at him.

"I'm in the second match in Group One. Is this your first time here?"

"Yes." she paused for a while, then added, "I came because I need the money for my okaasan's medical bills."

"Oh. I see." Goten felt a little sorry for her, since it was most likely that she would not be able to get the championship. "It's okay if you don't win. You can still get the money." He unconsciously blurted out his thoughts.

"What?!" Kiare looked astonished, then narrowed her eyes at the half Saiyajin.

In the face of her inquisition, Goten was at a loss of words. "Er…, well, you see, the mayor of this city, Mr. Satan, is a friend of ours and he is very rich. I'm sure he could be able to give you enough money." Feeling that the meaning of his words could be taken the wrong way, he added quickly, "Very willingly, of course."

"Really? But I don't feel very comfortable about a total stranger giving me money."

"It's all right, he is very generous. I'm sure he won't mind."

"That's great!" she cried out blithely, clapping her hands. Then her face fell. "But… my teacher will be disappointed if I don't win."

"Oh, but can't you tell him that you tried your best?" Goten said, trying to elevate her spirits a little.

"I don't know…, perhaps. He might not believe me, though." Kiare's face was down. She had her arms crossed, staring at the floor, deep in thought.

They walked on in silence. Goten felt uncomfortably guilty that he had brought about her despondency. You mouthy fool, he chided himself. Look what you have done. He was so vexed with himself that he failed to notice Kiare trying to get his attention. "Goten!"

Her cry brought him back to the present. He jumped, looking around hastily for an enemy, then realised that no one was in danger. Instead, Kiare was gazing at him amusedly, her mouth twisted slightly in a smirk. Feeling his face growing hot, Goten muttered an apology for being so distracted. "What is it?" he questioned sheepishly.

"Nothing, it is just that we have reached our groups and the first match is about to begin." she informed him. "You had better go and report now. See you later."

As Goten walked on to his own Group, he thought of his promise to Kiare again. Maybe he had no right to use Mr. Satan's money. In any case, they still did not know much about the girl. How could he know whether she wasn't lying? He had always been very naive about such things. What if it was a plot to get their money? Perhaps he should coax the two girls to get close to Kiare. No, they were so much younger than her. Juuhachigou-san? Well, she and Marron were the only trusted friends he knew of who were closest to her age. Then, he realised that he did not even know her age. He had simply assumed that she was fourteen, or maybe fifteen at most. She looked that age, anyhow. Later, he would ask her and introduce her to the Jinzouningen…

With a shock, Goten understood why Kiare had seemed so… familiar. She sort of resembled Juuhachigou-san, with black hair rather than gold, and deep green eyes in place of pale blue ones. He wondered if they were related. If she was related to Marron too.

He heard his name being called and quickly flew to the stage, feeling all eyes on him and hearing gasps of awe from under him. He landed neatly, just as his opponent was scrambling clumsily onto the raised stage. Seeing the great bulk of his opponent, Goten rolled his eyes. Not another giant, he thought. They were always so arrogant, thinking that they were invincible due to their immensity. He had to make short work of this fellow. 

Sure enough, the behemoth was being supercilious already. "Hulk", as Goten promptly named him, was mocking and making gibes at him. Despite this, his smaller opponent was rather impressed with his size. "Hulk" could easily be two and a half times his mass and more than twice his width. The giant was clothed in a thin layer of hair and a pair of exceedingly large shorts. Not surprisingly, he did not wear any shoes and had a wild mane of hair. In all, he reminded Goten of the "Incredible Hulk" in the cartoon, hence the nickname.

The announcer gave them the signal to start fighting and Goten instinctively moved into his fighting stance. Then, he decided to have some fun with the guy and straightened up. "Hulk" gaped at him incredulously and burst out laughing, "What! You have given up so quickly? Maybe you know you cannot defeat me?"

"Oh yeah? Watch me." 

Despite Goten's good intentions, the giant was making him annoyed. At first, he just stood there thinking of ways to finish him off quickly, instinctively dodging the titan's clumsy punches. Finally, he moved, so quickly that no one in the group saw where he went. It seemed that one moment he was there, at the giant's feet, then in another, he was gone. "Hulk" was turning round in circles, looking for him. 

"Stop that! You're making me dizzy!" Goten called out from the monster's head. "And your hair stinks. I suggest that you wash it after this." 

With a great shout of fury, the giant tried to crush him with a fist, but only succeeded in hurting himself. "Aw… did that hurt?" the half Sayajin boy mocked from the other end of the large square arena.

"Hulk" glared angrily at him, then launched himself at the irritating brat, intending to do him harm. However, he could never have a hope of catching the gadfly that was Son Goten. The youth jumped easily out of the way as the giant, unable to stop, crashed out of the stage. "Number 4 wins!" cried the announcer as Goten showed a victory sign to his amazed audience, then nimbly jumped offstage to find Kiare.

When he spotted her, she had already seen him coming and grinned at his effortless win. "Congratulations, Goten. I saw the whole thing from here. You were impressive! He could not even touch you at all."

"Uh… well," he muttered, not quite sure how to answer her. Finally, he said, "It was nothing much, really. He just underestimated me."

It was now the fourth match for Group 2 and until now, it had not been particularly interesting, so Kiare had just waited patiently, leaning against the wall with arms folded and elbows in her palms. Once again, Goten was reminded of Juuhachigou. Seeing his stunned appearance, the girl asked him if he was all right. Chagrined, he replied that she reminded him of someone he knew. 

"Not an ex-girlfriend, I hope." Kiare said, with a coy smile.

"No, she is much older than me. Besides, she is married and has an exceptionally winsome daughter." He paused awhile, thinking about Marron.

"You like her daughter, do you?" Kiare raised an eyebrow.

Goten blushed furiously and replied, "Well, I guess I do, but Marron was Trunks' girlfriend, so… Anyway, I could take you to call on her later. She's also watching the Budoukai." Goten offered. "By the 

way, how old are you?"

"I'm sixteen. Why?"

"Oh, that means that she is two years older than you," he said, slightly startled that Kiare was older than she seemed. "Her name is Juuhachigou."

"Number eighteen? That's a strange name." Not quite believing, Kiare looked at Goten quizzically. "Is it because of her age?"

"Not really, but I'll explain it to you later."

"Wait a minute. How old is Marron?" she asked.

"Seventeen." Goten replied instantly.

Kiare stared, wide-eyed. "But… her mother is only _one year older_ than her?"

Goten looked shocked. Yet it was true once he thought of it. "Uh… That is related to her name, which I'll explain to you afterwards, okay?"

Kiare shook her head in disbelief. Was he lying or maybe somewhat confused?

It was now Kiare's turn to fight. Her opponent was a burly, black-skinned man who wore a douji not unlike Goku's. They bowed to each other, then waited for the command to start the combat. Kiare crouched into her fighting stance, waiting for the man's onslaught. He gave a feral growl, then attacked. He was quite fast for a human, Goten noticed, but Kiare managed to stay out of his reach through her remarkable speed. Somehow, he was not surprised at all. Maybe he had sort of expected that she would be quite skilled. Her opponent proved to be no match for her.

As he watched, he observed that she was only defending herself and dodging blows, not attacking the man. Thus, the fight lasted longer than it would have been. The half-breed also noticed that despite her holding back, her speed was already close to his level, which meant that her real speed was possibly faster than all of them, even his otousan and Ubuu. Boy, would they be surprised! Maybe he should warn Trunks about this. On the other hand, he did not feel like talking to his best friend when the latter was in such a disagreeable mood. Moreover, Trunks had caused distress to the girl who was currently the most important thing in his life. Marron.

"Number 28 wins!"

The announcement shook him back to the present. Once again she had interrupted his thoughts. He saw the dark-skinned man writhing on the floor, clutching his stomach tightly and guessed that the girl had just kicked him out of the arena. There was collective gasp from the watching participants when Kiare defeated the black man. Nobody expected a girl, let alone a girl so young to defeat a fully grown man. Kiare went to see if her opponent was all right before jumping down beside him, remarking that the time given for the fight was way too short. "Just warming up, huh?" Goten commented.

Kiare stared at him for a moment, then guiltily admitted it. "Actually, I did not want to hurt the guy too much," she said, with eyes cast down.

"Don't worry," Goten said gently, "With your ability, no one is likely to blame you for trying to be lenient on that guy. I certainly don't, and the others won't either. We meet with these problems all the time. The competitors are very often too weak and unskilled."

The teen-aged girl beamed at him gratefully for being so reassuring. However, he just wished it was Marron who was smiling so sweetly at him. Not that the girl before him was in any way inferior to his dream girl in looks, but his mind was totally absorbed in thinking about her that he hardly noticed the other girls around him.

****

Chapter 5 - Finals

All of them qualified for the finals, which wasn't astounding. In another large hall, where all sixteen of the finalists gathered, Trunks skeptically inspected the other eight fighters who had been skilled enough to get into the finals. Most of them wore weird costumes and wacky hairdos. Only three of them could pass off as normal humans. He shook his head dismissively. Why should they go to all this trouble to look peculiar? They did not have much ki too. Mr. Satan and Buu had not taken part since they had supposedly "retired". However, Trunks knew that the truth was that Mr Satan could not stand the humiliation of defeat and Buu was tired of fighting such unworthy opponents.

He felt sure that he could beat his sister, Pan and maybe Goten too. He was quite taken aback when he found out that Kiare had also gotten into the finals. However, he was sure that he could defeat her too, though he would be more easy on her than he would be on Pan or Bra, if he had to fight her. She looked quite pretty in a gentle way and seemed to be quite friendly with Goten, Pan and his sister, since they were always together. However, with her ki level, it was not likely that she could defeat even one of the other finalists, unless she was concealing it. No, that was quite unthinkable. Maybe she had some secret skill, or more probably, she had acquired a place in it by sheer luck. He knew that he could never defeat Goku, Ubuu and his father in a real fight, but he could at least try his luck, or lose gracefully.

To the onlookers, both Trunks and Vegita looked alike. They both were leaning against the wall with their arms crossed. They even wore similarly dark expressions. It was because of their fierce stares that no one dared to point out that fact to them. Soon, the finalists were asked to pick their numbers. Trunks received the number, four. He would have to beat number 3, Pan, then either Bra or Kiare. Easy, he thought. Pan defeated her rival without difficulty, then it was his turn. It was far too simple. One punch, then his opponent was out of the ring. He wondered why he even bothered to participate, other than to attract female attention, of course. Bra had finished off her adversary by now and Kiare was up next. 

He paid more attention to this fight because he did not know the girl's fighting prowess. The half-breed Saiyajin saw that she was fast, very fast. He was just able to see all of her moves but probably the audience and her opponent could only catch glimpses of her as she darted around him, giving a punch here, a kick there. The poor guy did not even have a chance of dealing a blow. However, Trunks still felt that she was holding back her true strength. He would have to watch himself later. As he had suspected, there was more to her than met the eye.

Finally, it was his turn to fight Pan, after the rest had defeated their respective rivals. When the two went on the stage, nearly half of the audience cheered Pan on. After all, she was Mr Satan's granddaughter. The other half was encouraging Trunks. They bowed towards each other, then went into fighting stances. "Don't think that I will go soft on you just because you are a girl," taunted Trunks.

Pan stuck out her tongue at him. She retorted, "Huh! You and your threats! I'm not afraid of you! Don't talk; let's fight!"

"All right! You asked for it!"

They charged at each other, shouting battle cries. Initially, they seemed equally matched, then Trunks's added experience in fighting techniques gave him an advantage over the younger fighter. Also, Pan was wearing out too quickly with the strain of parrying his lightning-quick blows. The others saw that she could not keep this up much longer and started encouraging her to keep on fighting. She flew straight up to gain some respite, but was joined swiftly by Trunks.

Kiare stared up, mouth open, at the two exponents hovering in mid-air. "H- how come they can fly?" she stammered, amazed.

"What? You don't know how to fly?" Goku asked, seeing her astonishment. "All of us here know how. It's quite simple, really."

"Could you teach me, Goku-san?" the teenager asked shyly, looking at him hopefully. "It must be so fun to fly around without using machines or airplanes."

"Of course!" the older man exclaimed, beaming happily at her. "It is also very useful when you need to travel somewhere fast."

"Cool!"

By now, Pan had already lost the fight because of her accidental fall out of the arena. Aching and bone weary, she submissively allowed herself to be carried by Trunks back to where the others were waiting. It was now Kiare and Bra's turn to spar with each other. The two girls walked onto the stage, smiling at each other genially. They also bowed, then started fighting. Bra attacked with both fists, striking so quickly that it seemed that she had at least ten hands. However, Kiare countered all her punches with her palms. Now Bra tried a kicking approach, but was also thwarted. She kept attacking and the older girl kept defending, until the female half Saiyajin got careless and unwittingly created an opening for Kiare, who punched her squarely in the midsection.

As the two girls were fighting, the others were wondering how Kiare had learned her excellent, for a full human, skills. Vegita eyed her suspiciously, then turned to Goku, asking, "Kakarrot, do you think she looks familiar? Like someone we have fought before?"

Son Goku scratched the back of his head, frowning slightly in his thought. "To tell you the truth… No."

The Saiyajin Prince gaped at him in shock, then remembered that the other Saiyajin had not been there during that particular fight because of his illness. "Idiot. Why did you not tell me earlier? I might have saved my breath," he muttered, annoyed.

Frustrated and a little piqued by her opponent's superior speed, Bra flew up into the air and shot a Burning Attack at her. Kiare was about to dart away, but if she did, the audience could get hurt. So, instead she stood her ground and did a silent Kamehameha of the same power. The ki blasts canceled themselves out. As Bra hung in the air, goggling like those who were watching them, Kiare jumped up behind her and sent her crashing out of the arena with a two-handed hit. The other Saiyajins were astounded by the fact that Kiare knew the Kamehameha. "Could she be one of Mutenroshi's new students?" Goten asked his father. 

"Seriously speaking, I have no idea," answered Goku. "Maybe we should ask him later." 

In the audience, Kamesennin himself wondered where the girl had learnt the skill. Was it from one of his old disciples? Meanwhile, on the sandy ground out of the arena, the blue-haired girl groaned and picked herself up. Kiare offered her a hand and they walked back to the hall just as companionably as they came. "Never underestimate your opponent." The older girl said with a grin and wink. "Still friends?" 

"Of course!" came Bra's reply.

Sitting beside her husband, in the midst of his friends, Juuhachigou knew that she had found the girl she was looking for. Kiare had defeated Bra almost effortlessly. The girl also bore a striking resemblance to both her and Juunanagou. However, she had expected a much younger girl. Juu-kun was really in for it this time. Speaking of which, where was he? He promised her he would come but there was no sign of him anywhere. Frowning, she scanned the crowd with her enhanced eyesight. Still no Juunanagou. Idiot. Perhaps she would bring the girl to see him later. Have a nice family reunion… If he was at home, that is. If he wasn't, there was no telling where he would… 

**BOOM!**

Chapter 6 – Old Enemy

What's that? An earthquake? Was her first thought as the ground rumbled violently right after the sound. Somehow, she felt that it was not, that it was something worse. The others were staring around wide-eyed. On the stage, Vegita and Goten had stopped fighting. They glanced back at Goku and the others, then instantaneously took to the air, heading towards the sound. All of them left, leaving behind a dismayed Kiare. Now the Jinzouningen felt the powerful ki emanating from the source of the quake. It seemed familiar, like she had gone up against the person before. 

_Brolli?!_ Her narrow eyes flew wide open in shock. Not him again! Still, there seemed to be a slight difference in the ki she felt now. Kuririn and his friends were in consternation. She noticed that Piccolo was gone. So was Son Gohan. The other women, Chi-Chi, Videl and Bulma, were wondering what had happened. Kuririn looked terrified. Their eyes met and Juuhachigou saw recognition in his. So he also knew.

Evidently, the MC was very confused right now. He was stupidly gazing in the direction where Goku and the others had left, his jaw nearly reaching the ground. Finally, he regained his composure and said, "Si… since the others have all flown off, I declare the winner of this year's Tenkaichi Budoukai to be Kiare! Kiare, please come forward to receive your prize. Ten million dollars! Kiare?…" There was no response. She was probably be trying to make her way there too, thought the female android. However, since she can't fly… I'll go find her myself. Informing her husband where she was going, she searched for the girl's ki, found it, and proceeded to fly there.

***

Marron sat amongst her classmates in the audience. The other girls had been appalled at the hasty departure of the fighters, but Marron knew why they had gone. Although she did not have any interest in fighting, and her parents had not forced her to learn, she had learnt how to sense ki from Kuririn and was now quite adept at it. With this skill, she could find out where her friends were, no matter which part of the world they were in. The ki she felt now was foreign to her and it was strong, very strong. However, it was distinctly Saiyajin, and… She opened her eyes wide with shock. It was the ki of a Super Saiyajin!

Her best friend, Ushika, who was sitting beside her, saw her horrified aspect and asked her if she was okay. She did not want to lie to her friend, but also did not want Ushika to worry too much about Son Goten, whom she admired secretly. Hesitatingly, she said, "Ahem… I… er… think that everything should be all right."

"What do you mean 'everything should be all right'?" The dark brown-haired girl looked baffled. "What caused that earthquake? Do you know why they left? Tell me!" She grabbed hold of Marron's slender shoulders and searched her pale blue eyes for a clue, shaking her a little. At her sudden outburst, the people surrounding them all stared curiously.

Gulping and conscious of the eyes on them, Marron stuttered, "I- I don't know wh-why they left. B- but I think that they went t- to investigate the c- cause of the quake." 

Ushika finally let go of her shoulders and slumped down in her seat. Marron shook her head. Her friend was normally rather gentle and soft-spoken, but her love for Goten (if it could be called love) made her like this. 

"I'm very sorry, Marron-chan; I don't know what's gotten into me. Did I grab you very hard?" Ushika murmured, not daring to look up.

"Yes." 

She looked up at Marron hastily, then relaxed when she saw the blonde's cheeky grin.

"I'll probably have bruised shoulders until next week."

"Huh! I should have grabbed your tongue too!" the girl said, playfully pretending to pull Marron's tongue out and squeezing it.

"Owww… That hurts!" Marron said, laughing. She had successfully turned her friend's mood around; nevertheless as for herself, she was still worried for her friends, Pan, Bra, Goten and Trunks. Sure, she and Trunks had broken up, but he was still her friend, right?


	3. Default Chapter Title

****

Chapter 7 – Daughter?

Unknown to Juuhachigou, Juunanagou had been watching the Budoukai and had overheard the conversation with Piccolo as well. He also noticed the remarkable resemblance between him and Kiare. If the girl was indeed his daughter, he was very proud of her skills. There were few humans who could beat a Saiyajin in a fight. He now hovered over her as she walked along the street, waiting for a cab. The more he watched her, the more she reminded him of himself. The jet-black hair, slanted eyes, her way of walking and lithe movements. Could she really be his daughter?

As if she had sensed his thoughts, Kiare abruptly looked up, staring straight at him. It was too late to hide now. He had been covertly following her, and having no ki, found it easy to hide from her. Now he saw that he had been too careless while involved in his thoughts. His shadow had fallen across her path. Juunanagou descended smoothly to land in front of the girl. If she was impressed, she showed no sign of it. Some passersby were staring curiously at them and a couple of schoolgirls were ogling at the handsome Jinzouningen. He ignored them all irately. Kiare was regarding him with narrowed eyes and arms tightly crossed. 

Her eyes! They were a beautiful dark brown. Where had he seen those eyes before? He delved deep into his memory. He recalled faint images of twinkling brown eyes, swirling scarlet hair, and a young woman's musical laughter. Kiare's question snapped him back to the present. "W-what?" he stuttered. 

Kiare rolled her eyes and repeated her question. "I just said, why have you been furtively following me?"

"Well, I er… wanted to find out why you left the Budoukai so suddenly." He knew it was a lame excuse, but it was all he could come up with at the moment. "Did you know that you won 10 million dollars?"

"If you are so interested in the prize, why don't you dress as me to collect it?" she said this glibly; however, she soon saw the similarity between them herself. Her eyes widened in disbelief. "You… how… Who are you?"

"Someone who wants to teach you how to fly." Being in control of the situation boosted his confidence. "If you're interested, meet me at Lone Hill tomorrow at 5 p.m. sharp. If not," he shrugged, then said, "don't show up."

He turned around and was hovering above the ground when Kiare called out, "At least let me know your name."

"Just call me Juu," he said without glancing back, then he zoomed off into the blue sky.

Moments later, Kiare was still musing about the young man's offer when another flying shadow fell across her path. Again, she felt no ki. "Now what?" she muttered, whirling around. 

Facing her was not the same young man, but a coldly beautiful blond woman. She was dressed in a shirt and jeans, like the boy, but did not have his orange bandanna. Her shining golden hair was parted on her left and hung down the sides of her face in a similar fashion as the boy's had been. The both of them also appeared to be around the same age. The woman looked her up and down, scrutinising her closely, muttering, "The Namekkuseijin was right. You do resemble us. However, those brown eyes must belong to your mother. "

In a louder tone of voice, she addressed a bewildered Kiare, "You live rather far away, right? So, I guess you could stay with us for the time being. I will have to prepare the spare room in the Kame house for you." 

She grasped Kiare's hand without any resistance from the startled girl and said, "Hold on tight, unless you want a premature lesson in flying."

"But…, who are you?" she asked, dumbfounded.

Juuhachigou looked down at her niece, puzzled. "You mean they did not tell you? Those idiots." She frowned briefly, then smiled at the younger girl. "Ah well, let me introduce myself, then. I am Juuhachigou, your obaasan."

****

Chapter 8 – Saiyajin!

As they flew towards the ki source, Bra wondered about this guy called Brolli. Her niichan told her that he was extremely powerful and had nearly beaten them thrice. She found that rather hard to believe, since her tousan and Son Goku were the most powerful people in the world that she knew of. Probably Trunks was just exaggerating the facts to scare her. He often did that; especially when he did not want her to go somewhere. Well, this time she wasn't going to be scared so easily; she was much too curious about another fellow Saiyajin, no matter how powerful he was. She had to admit that this time her brother's acting was really good. He looked like he was really apprehensive about this Brolli. Gohan-san and Piccolo-san had just joined them and the two of them also seemed quite scared. Only Goku-san looked excited about the fight. Ubuu-kun was as confused as they were.

It seemed that the first time they met Brolli and fought him, Gohan-san was only nine years old. The other two times were when her niichan and Goten-kun were only kids about her age. She wondered why they hadn't told Pan or her about this before and if Brolli was handsome. Bra wanted to ask Pan's opinion about how he would look like, but as she glanced on her left, she saw that the younger girl was much too geared up about fighting a powerful opponent that was not someone they knew. If she asked now, Pan might not even hear her. Bra rolled her eyes and sighed mentally. They would soon know anyway.

"Look, there he is!" Goten-kun shouted. They flew over the crest of a hill and landed there, watching. There was a huge crater in the middle of the plain. At the edge of the crater, a small figure in Super Saiyajin stood, making no move to attack, although he must have sensed their ki already.

For a while, both sides just remained as they were, then, irritated that she could not see his face clearly, Bra started forward. Trunks pulled her back forcefully and scolded her in a sharp whisper, "Baka! What do you think you're doing? Do you want to get us all killed?"

Angrily, Bra retorted, close to tears, "What is wrong with you people? Why are you so afraid of this guy? He is only one man, anyway."

Seeing her speak up, Pan piped, "Bra-chan is right! I want to see for myself how strong this guy really is."

The two girls nodded at each other, then blasted off towards the super Saiyajin, leaving behind the stunned adults. They landed at a distance of about five metres away from him, but he still remained in the same position, unmoving. Bra noticed that he was quite good-looking, though he looked a little too fierce. The others arrived, but there was still no response from the Saiyajin. There seemed to be some internal struggle going on in his head, for he suddenly grabbed it with both hands and screamed. Abruptly, he stopped and collapsed unconscious on the ground, his hair and eyes turning black.

Initially, the others thought it was a trick of some sort, but as they warily moved nearer to him, they saw that he was really unconscious. Now they had to decide what to do with him. Trunks, Goten and Gohan wanted to send him back into space with his space pod, but the others wanted to wait until he regained consciousness then fight him. "Don't you think he looks too young to be Brolli?" Goku pointed out.

"Since when did you become so discerning?" Vegita skeptically asked.

"Well, he does look young," commented Gohan. "And he certainly does not wear the same clothes as Brolli."

The Saiyajin was dressed in typical Saiyajin armour, with his tail wrapped firmly around his waist. They continued staring down at the youth for a while. "Maybe we should investigate the ship to find clues about his identity," suggested Bra excitedly.

"That's a good idea, Bra-chan," said Goten. "Let's go, Trunks-kun!"

The two young men walked into the crater and went into the open pod. Piccolo, Goku and Ubuu stayed to watch over the unconscious Saiyajin, while Vegita, Gohan and the two girls went to the space capsule. The pod was not large enough to accommodate all of them, so only Vegita, Gohan and Trunks went in. Everything seemed to be in working order, but the life-support and preservation systems were showing weird symbols. Vegita was the only one who could read Saiyajin, so he examined the controls. Gohan and Trunks looked questioningly at him. The Saiyajin Prince looked shocked at what he discovered. "What is the matter, otousan?" Trunks asked anxiously. "A-according to these statistics," Vegita started saying, "This space pod has been in space for more than ten years. That means that boy outside has not aged in ten years!"

"What?!" Gohan and Trunks exclaimed simultaneously.

"What's happening?" Pan asked from outside the space pod.

"Tell us what's going on," said Bra, pushing Pan away from the doorway.

Goten pulled her away from the door so that the three men could exit the pod. "But I…," Bra said, struggling in Goten's arms. "Shh! We'll all know soon enough," hissed Goten.

"Well, Vegita? What have you found out?" Piccolo asked, seeing the three of them emerge ashen-faced.

"This boy is actually over thirty years old, but due to a prolonged period in space, he has not aged a single bit over ten years," said Vegita gravely. "Wait! Let me explain this first!" he said, seeing that the others had started muttering among themselves. "I'm not finished yet. A Saiyajin space pod has a preservative mechanism that kicks in whenever it travels in space for more than five light years. Thus, the occupant would not need to eat or defecate until planetfall. Both Nappa and I also went through this preservation during our trip to Earth, but we were only preserved for a few years so there was no harmful effect on us."

"Not if you call wanting to destroy a whole civilisation a harmful effect," Goten muttered, then was silenced by Vegita's cold stare.

"Anyway, as I was saying, if a person is preserved for too long, his brain may be damaged and he could go insane. Either that or he may be prone to hallucinations or even develop multiple personalities. This can cause him to commit wanton acts of destruction. With a Saiyajin of his power, this can be extremely dangerous. I suggest that we destroy him now," said Vegita.

"Wait," said Goku. "You said that his brain _might_ be damaged, not that it would be. So, there is a chance that he may be fine."

"The chances are very slim," argued Vegita. "As far as I know, no one who came back from such a long trip remained unaffected. Most Saiyajin who journeyed for more than five years preserved were haunted by migraines that eventually killed them. You already saw how this fellow collapsed just now."

Goku thought for a while, then said, "I still think we should give him a chance."

"Y'know? I agree with him," said Gohan. "I don't want to kill an innocent person."

Vegita clenched his fists in frustration. "Innocent? No Saiyajin is innocent! Fine, do it your way. Just don't come crawling to me for help when he starts to destroy this planet."

With that, he blasted off into the horizon. The others watched him leave, wondering if they had made the right choice. They decided that the Saiyajin would stay at Goku's house, since there were five warriors, including Ubuu staying there. If there was trouble, they should be able to handle it. They left the space pod where it was, then flew back to their homes.

****

Chapter 9 – Settling In

Chi-Chi nearly had a fit when Goku brought the boy home. "Another Saiyajin!! Both Videl and I have our hands full with preparing meals for four Saiyajins and you just had to bring another one home, didn't you?!" she screamed.

Pan and Ubuu cowered behind Goku in fear as Chi-Chi rambled on about how thoughtless and inconsiderate they were, always leaving behind so many dishes for the two of them to wash while they went to train for who knew what purpose and came back only to eat. "Why don't you find a job like Gohan? At least _he_ earns enough money to support us. And why didn't you stay at the Budoukai to win the 10 million dollars? If you had done that, I might have forgiven you, but no, you all had to run off for some reason and leave the money to a total stranger, who also disappeared. If I had taken part, I would have stayed for the money at least," she paused to take a breath. "And…"

"There, there, Chi-Chi." Goku said, patting her reassuringly on the shoulder. "I'll take part in it the next time, okay?"

"You'll probably run off again for some reason and leave us alone again!" she said, almost in tears. "The last time you left just like that," she said, snapping her fingers. "Did you know how much I missed you? I cried myself to sleep that night. Who knew when you were coming back?"

The older woman was now sobbing openly, and the others were getting uncomfortable. Fortunately, Videl saved the situation by gently pulling Chi-Chi away from the door, so that the others could enter. Pan approached her grandmother shyly and said, "Don't cry, obasan, I will help you with the cooking next time, okay?"

Chi-Chi wiped some of her tears with her handkerchief and smiled at her granddaughter, saying, "Pan, you are a good girl, if only your ojisan was as understanding as you are."

***

Juuhachigou and Kiare had arrived at the Kame house. Kamesennin was out on the beach, wading in the water with his turtle. He greeted the both of them politely, then called Kuririn. The old hentai had long discovered that it was unhealthy to mess with this Jinzouningen woman and whatever visitors she brought. The girl beside her had a disturbing resemblance to her, so he decided to stay clear of the house for a while. Kuririn came out of the house, wiping his hands on his trousers. "Juu-chan, you're back. This girl is…"

"She is Kiare, from the Budoukai, remember?" Juuhachigou told her husband in a slight reprimanding tone. "Piccolo told us that she is related to me, so most probably she must be my brother's daughter," she turned to Kiare and said, "What's your father's name, Kiare-chan?"

The dark-haired girl was looking extremely confused. "I- I do not know my father. My mother said that he died before I was born. I have lived in the woods near Mt. Paozu my whole life. The only man I know, is my old sensei."

"What?! That irresponsible jerk!" Juuhachigou exclaimed.

"Calm down, Juu-chan," said Kuririn anxiously. "It isn't any use getting mad now. You know how he is like."

"Of course I know how he is like! Still, I never expected him to abandon his wife and daughter just like that." Juuhachigou clenched her fists in anger, then slowly calmed herself down. "Your father is not dead, Kiare-chan. I just saw him a few days ago."

"B-but I…" Kiare stuttered, getting even more bewildered.

Juuhachigou continued as if there had not been an interruption. "I'll take you to see him in a few days time. Meanwhile, you can stay here with us. Is that okay with you?"

"Yes, but my mother is ill and she needs medication."

"I'm sure if we get your father to see her, she will be cured faster," the android said. "Now all you need to do is to write a letter to her, telling her that you are staying with us and that we will take care of you. Just leave everything else to me, all right?"

Kiare nodded mutely. "Come, Kiare-chan," said Kuririn. "I will show you your room, then you can fix it up whatever way you want. When you go to school, you will need to have a place to put all your books. Juu-chan, don't forget to register her at Marron's school."

"Yes, yes. I won't forget," she said as she flew off.

Kuririn let Kiare into the house and showed her to her room. "By the way, how old are you, Kiare-chan?" he asked.

"I am sixteen, Kuririn-san," she replied, still unsure of what was happening.

"You can call me ojiisan. My daughter, Marron, is seventeen this year. She went out with her friends after the Budoukai, but you'll have a chance to meet her later. Er… you don't understand what's going on, ne?" he said, seeing her confused expression. He sighed, then continued, "Well, it's kind of hard for a human like you to understand; I'll try my best to explain. 

"Firstly, my wife and your father are siblings. That much you have guessed, I'm sure. Anyway, they are not… how do I put this… as fully human as we both are. They used to be but were subtly changed by an evil scientist. This man made them into very powerful fighters who were originally programmed to kill a person. Thus their names, Juunanagou and Juuhachigou. The scientists made a few other androids before them, but there were problems. Juuhachi and her brother were too rebellious and too powerful, so he animated them only as a last resort.

"They killed the scientist right after they were reanimated, then set out to kill the person. What happened after that, well, you will probably learn in your history lessons. Just try to take it with a pinch of salt, okay? Mr. Satan is not even as powerful as I am, let alone Juuhachigou. Son Gohan was the one who killed Cell, the most powerful creation of the evil scientist. Let's go back to our subjects now. After Cell's death, Juuhachi went to look for her brother and to travel the world. She told me that much anyhow. Later, she came back to look for me and we got married. Er… that's about it for Juuhachigou."

Clearing his throat, Kuririn continued, "As for Juunanagou, I'm not very sure about what happened to him, but these few years, he's been living in the woods on the nearby mainland. You must be wondering why Juuhachigou looks so young, ne? It's because she is an Artificial Human, a Jinzouningen. Both she and her brother have not aged since they were changed, and they probably never will. Juuhachi is actually thirty-nine years old, counting from the time when she was first animated. She doesn't know her birth date, or when and where she was born because her memory was erased when she was changed. Do you understand more now?"

Kiare simply nodded, overwhelmed at the new information. Kuririn quietly left her alone in the room to digest the facts about the father she had not even known existed.

The next afternoon, Juuhachigou and Marron took her to the city to shop for some new clothes, since she could not possibly wear Marron's clothes all the time. Kiare had visited her mother the day before, and the older woman told her that she was now feeling better and that she was glad that Kiare was in good hands. However, Kiare's mother did not wish to move to the city as she preferred the peace and quiet that the forest offered. Her mind now free from worry, Kiare intended to enjoy herself on this shopping trip. The three of them took a hovercraft, driven by Juuhachigou, to the mainland then rode to the city in a taxi. Kiare had only been to the city once before and that was when she attended the Budoukai, so Marron and her mother showed her around this time. They passed by Lone Hill on the way and Kiare took note of where it was, so that she could meet 'Juu' later.

If Kiare appeared rather inattentive, Marron just assumed that her cousin was just unused to being in a large city like this one. She herself enjoyed shopping, like her mother did, and did not realise that there would be others who did not. The two blonde women were so intent on their shopping that they did not realise that Kiare had disappeared until it was time for dinner.

Meanwhile, Kiare had escaped from the crowds at the shopping mall and soon found her way back to Lone Hill. She arrived just in time to see Juu fly down to meet her. "Well, I see you decided to turn up, after all," the young man said, smirking.

Kiare remembered what Kuririn had told her and knew that Juu could be her father. She kept silent. "What happened to your glib tongue? Did something shock you into silence?" Juunanagou asked, then realised that he had said too much.

"Are you…," Kiare muttered. "Are you Juunanagou?"

The Jinzouningen did not answer her. He folded his arms and looked uncomfortable with the question. "Well? Are you or are you not Jinzouningen Juunanagou?" she asked again.

"I can't tell you right now," he said finally. "I am not very sure myself."

"What? Why?" Kiare asked, puzzled. "Either you are or you're not. What's there to be sure about?"

"Enough questions!!" Juunanagou shouted suddenly. "Do you want to learn how to fly or not? If you don't want to, don't waste my time."

"If you _are_ Juunanagou, you have a lot of time to waste," Kiare retorted. "All right! If you want to remain mysterious, it's fine with me. Just get on with the lesson."

"Fine!" Juu said, irritated with this rude, loudmouthed daughter of his that he did not even remember having. "You know what ki is, right? To fly, you just have to focus your ki…"

***

Meanwhile, Marron and Juuhachigou were still busy shopping. Time passed quickly and it was nearly eight in the evening. Marron felt her stomach grumbling and asked her mother if it was time for them to have their dinner. Juuhachigou glanced at her watch and nodded, saying, "Just call Kiare and we'll head for the food centre."

"Kiare? Wasn't she with you?" Marron asked. "I did not see her after I went into that shop over there and I thought she left with you."

"No, where could she have gone?" Juuhachigou wondered. "I can't sense her ki either, but she must be somewhere in the city. Marron, you search the mall, I'll fly around the city to see if I can find her ki. We'll meet here in half an hour."

Marron agreed and the two separated to search for Kiare.

Back at Lone Hill, Kiare had already learned how to float, but in order to fly, she still had some practice to go. "Well, you can learn the rest on your own now," said the android. "You just need to practice your ki control and you'll succeed. You're a fast learner."

"Thanks," Kiare said, gratified that he had actually complimented her.

"Um… I'll meet you here on the following Monday to see how much you've improved," he said thoughtfully. "See you then."

"Bye!" Kiare said as Juu flew off. She walked back to the shopping mall, reviewing what she had learnt. Was Juu really her father? Why did he want to teach her how to fly? She had caught him looking at her strangely a couple of times when she was concentrating on focusing her ki. It seemed that he himself did not really know if she was his daughter or not. Only her mother would be able to recognise him if she saw him, but how was she going to make him meet her mother?

"So that's where you are. We've been looking all over for you," came a familiar voice.

"Juuhachigou-san!" exclaimed Kiare, whirling around. "I'm sorry that I left like that, but I don't really like crowds and I just wanted to find somewhere quieter, so…"

"It's okay, Kiare, you don't need to explain," Juuhachigou said, placing a hand on her niece's shoulder. "Next time, just tell us where you are going first, all right?"

Kiare nodded, blushing as Marron approached. "You'll have to get used to the crowds when living in a city," Marron commented. "Come on, let's go home now. I'm tired and very hungry as well."

The three young women went back to the seaside house and Juuhachigou prepared dinner for all five of them. After dinner, Marron gave Kiare a brief description of Orange Star High so that she would not get lost so easily among the numerous lecture halls. They then went to bed early so that they could leave early the next day. The journey to and from the school would take at least three hours by plane.


End file.
